Maxing is out??

CristinaL1983

So I have been a member of Planet Fitness gym for some time now because of the cost. As many of you may know, Planet Fitness doesn't really have a good selection of free weights mostly machines. I recently joined a new gym that has enough free weights (for that reason exactly).

Since it has been a while since I have done some of the lifting that I can now do, I had the idea that I would max and then work at a percentage of that max. This is what I used to do when I was pretty seriously into lifting free weights. I feel like machines are quite a bit different even for squats because of the muscle isolation so I feel like I will have to basically start from scratch figuring out what I can lift.

During my "orientation" while I was talking to the trainer who was showing me around, I mentioned having to max on everything to figure out where I am and what I should lift. He said that people don't really do that anymore. Basically he said that I should just experiment until I find the weight that I struggle to lift 8-12 times.

Is this right? Anyone have any better recommendations?

jonnythan

With any strength training, the focus should be progress. You want to keep increasing the weight on the bar or machine. There are several approaches to this. IMO when I can do 6-8 reps at a given weight I generally know it's time to add more to the bar next workout. I'm following a 5/3/1 progression which is pretty rigidly programmed for 3 weeks at a time, but if I were doing what you were doing I'd make a note to go one more plate for the next workout if I hit 8+ reps.

Progress this way until you hit a plateau, then drop one plate and work that to failure. Next week add the lost plate back and then the following week add the new one.

CristinaL1983

Thanks.

IronPlayground

I don't agree with the trainer. I think you can use a program like StrongLifts 5x5 to help get you started. Try starting with just the bar on all your lifts. I have no idea where you are with your strength at this point, but experiment with either the 25 lb bar or the 45 lb bar. Whichever one you can do 5 sets of 5 on all the lifts in the program would be a good place to start. Then progress from there.

CristinaL1983

I don't agree with the trainer. I think you can use a program like StrongLifts 5x5 to help get you started. Try starting with just the bar on all your lifts. I have no idea where you are with your strength at this point, but experiment with either the 25 lb bar or the 45 lb bar. Whichever one you can do 5 sets of 5 on all the lifts in the program would be a good place to start. Then progress from there.

Thanks! I had been squatting 220 lbs but on a squat machine which I think is much easier than a real squat so I kind of figured I'd start the weights at 100% body weight (160) and see how that works... I'm really not sure how much easier those machines are but I expect quite a bit. The last time I was deadlifting it was pretty much bodyweight (though I weighed about 15 lbs more than now) so I figure drop that down by a third to check and see where I am now. I think it's been a couple years since I did a proper dead lift. Other exercises, I expect I'll have to start with a bar because it has been a bit longer or I just don't remember how much I was lifting.

Edit to add: I had looked into Stronglifts before but because I didn't have access to the free weights, never actually did any of it. I'm going to go check it out again.

IronPlayground

I don't agree with the trainer. I think you can use a program like StrongLifts 5x5 to help get you started. Try starting with just the bar on all your lifts. I have no idea where you are with your strength at this point, but experiment with either the 25 lb bar or the 45 lb bar. Whichever one you can do 5 sets of 5 on all the lifts in the program would be a good place to start. Then progress from there.

Thanks! I had been squatting 220 lbs but on a squat machine which I think is much easier than a real squat so I kind of figured I'd start the weights at 100% body weight (160) and see how that works... I'm really not sure how much easier those machines are but I expect quite a bit. The last time I was deadlifting it was pretty much bodyweight (though I weighed about 15 lbs more than now) so I figure drop that down by a third to check and see where I am now. I think it's been a couple years since I did a proper dead lift. Other exercises, I expect I'll have to start with a bar because it has been a bit longer or I just don't remember how much I was lifting.

Edit to add: I had looked into Stronglifts before but because I didn't have access to the free weights, never actually did any of it. I'm going to go check it out again.

Good deal. You'll see in there that he recommends starting with an empty bar regardless of where you may think you are. You will increase fairly quickly while focusing on form. If you didn't already know, there is a smart phone app for StrongLifts that will help track your workouts.

CristinaL1983

I don't agree with the trainer. I think you can use a program like StrongLifts 5x5 to help get you started. Try starting with just the bar on all your lifts. I have no idea where you are with your strength at this point, but experiment with either the 25 lb bar or the 45 lb bar. Whichever one you can do 5 sets of 5 on all the lifts in the program would be a good place to start. Then progress from there.

Thanks! I had been squatting 220 lbs but on a squat machine which I think is much easier than a real squat so I kind of figured I'd start the weights at 100% body weight (160) and see how that works... I'm really not sure how much easier those machines are but I expect quite a bit. The last time I was deadlifting it was pretty much bodyweight (though I weighed about 15 lbs more than now) so I figure drop that down by a third to check and see where I am now. I think it's been a couple years since I did a proper dead lift. Other exercises, I expect I'll have to start with a bar because it has been a bit longer or I just don't remember how much I was lifting.

Edit to add: I had looked into Stronglifts before but because I didn't have access to the free weights, never actually did any of it. I'm going to go check it out again.

Good deal. You'll see in there that he recommends starting with an empty bar regardless of where you may think you are. You will increase fairly quickly while focusing on form. If you didn't already know, there is a smart phone app for StrongLifts that will help track your workouts.

Gotcha! Reading it right now. Thanks again!

ninerbuff

Usually what I recommend is that we start lighter for a couple of weeks to reaffiliate one's self to the feel of free weight lifting if one hasn't done it in awhile. Nothing worse than doing a max lift then injuring yourself because you weren't accustomed to it again. Then progressively add weight each week.
Maxes are important if powerlifting/olympic lifting is your goal. However, the majority of issues I've encountered over the years with people usually happened on max lifts. Knees, shoulders, back and muscle tears being the most common injuries.

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

CristinaL1983

Usually what I recommend is that we start lighter for a couple of weeks to reaffiliate one's self to the feel of free weight lifting if one hasn't done it in awhile. Nothing worse than doing a max lift then injuring yourself because you weren't accustomed to it again. Then progressively add weight each week.
Maxes are important if powerlifting/olympic lifting is your goal. However, the majority of issues I've encountered over the years with people usually happened on max lifts. Knees, shoulders, back and muscle tears being the most common injuries.

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

True! I broke a rib in highschool maxing on bench Definitely don't want to do that again!

Troublemonster

Assuming you're a smartphone holder; there are a number of apps that claim to calculate your 1RM based on performance of reps @ weight.
I use JEFITpro for my workouts and every time I log a set it tells me what it thinks my 1RM was for that set and what it is based on my performance across all the sets of that exercise I have done.
Might help give you an idea for getting your baseline down for a 5/3/1 or similar program.

Gwyn1969

Your post didn't say how long of a layoff you've had, but if the layoff was significant enough that you don't know your 1RM on your lifts, trying to figure that out would be meaningless at this point, because you would adapt to the training stress induced by your max attempt. In other words, you are able to adapt quickly enough to a given weight that you would want to add weight the next time you train. Taking advantage of this novice period, while it lasts, would give you the best results. Stronglifts seems fine for this.

Sarauk2sf

Your post didn't say how long of a layoff you've had, but if the layoff was significant enough that you don't know your 1RM on your lifts, trying to figure that out would be meaningless at this point, because you would adapt to the training stress induced by your max attempt. In other words, you are able to adapt quickly enough to a given weight that you would want to add weight the next time you train. Taking advantage of this novice period, while it lasts, would give you the best results. Stronglifts seems fine for this.

^^agreed

Plus, trying to max out if you have not lifted for a while is not a good idea imo and could be asking for injury.

taunto

I will repeat looking into Stronglifts. I like it specially since I don't really know how much max I can do 5x5 of so starting empty and then adding small numbers each time helps build strength at a slow, steady and safe rate. Good luck

DavPul

I agree with your trainer that max lifts are generally not a great idea and are a really bad idea for a body that hasn't been in a trained state in quite some time. There are much safer ways to figure out what weight range you should be using.